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Chapter 37

Translation

The way normally does nothing, yet there is nothing not done.
If kings and noblemen will abide by this,
Everything will self transform.
Transform yet desire rises,
Press it down using nameless simplicity,
Of nameless simplicity, man also supports without desire.
No desire, using stillness, all under heaven supports self calm.

Second Pass: Work in Progress10/17/2013

Issues:

Line 7: I replaced No desire and still, all under heaven will settle themselves with No desire, using stillness, all under heaven support self calm. Does that read better, or am I just attracted to novelty of change? I notice this novelty dynamic in the garden whenever I either pull out some plant or put in a new one. Subtraction and addition can both look ‘better’. The deeper measure of ‘better’ is usually connected to efficiency—what works better. What works ‘better’ in translating the Tao Te Ching is nebulous at best, because so much hinges on ‘the eye of the observer’. Oh well, perhaps knowing this bio-hoodwink is always somewhere in my psyche helps me guard against it. Understanding how I operate is truly useful… but I digress. Here is how this line breaks down:

My original version, support self calm is pretty much literal, depending on which meaning you choose for the characters 将自定. Settle themselves really says the same thing, just smoother in my view now. In the end, I suppose it is 50/50.

Commentary:

The way normally does nothing, yet there is nothing not done is the ‘story’ I use to counteract the ‘story’ my desires constantly cook up and prod me to act upon. Compared to other animals, we are unique in our ability to project our desires into stories (imagine scenarios lying in the future or the past). These then become guiding lights for life. We also pump up each other story with the overall cultural story of our era via social interaction.

The only exit from this delusional vicious circle is the more timeless universal spiritual story each of the world’s religions propagate. Each of us seeks (needs) some ‘eternal’ story to push back on the one created by our desires and worries (needs and fears + thought). Failure to find one is problematic; finding a good fit can bring increased sanity and contentment. This, of course, is why people of different natures are attracted to different versions of the ‘eternal’ story. And what is the ‘eternal’ story? That’s easy:

Putting it this way isn’t all that comforting for most of us (all of us?). We need something more concrete; we need to have it in writing or spoken. The idea that Knowing doesn’t speak; speaking doesn’t know is too ascetic for most of us, especially in our youth. We need to know we know, or hear someone speak as though they know.

Everything will self transform. Transform, yet desire rises brings to mind my experience with the ebb and flow of desire. At some point, I began to notice a curious thing happening when I reached complete calmness; desire rises forthwith. Oh well, so much for my dream of utter contentment and peace on earth. After all this is exactly how nature works in its ‘existence and nothing give birth to one another‘ kind of way. One of our biggest errors in life is holding out for permanency—for our preferred side of the coin. The illusions of Heaven and Enlightenment are the starkest examples of this wishful thinking…. oh and free will, naturally.

Press it down using nameless simplicity can help deal with rising desire. If you watch yourself carefully, you’ll notice that every time desire rises the mind attaches a name to the object of that desire—Only when restricted, are there names. This is unique to humans; for other animals stimuli triggers needs (or fears) but there is no word or thought connected with it. Once the stimuli passes, the need or fear eases off. Our ability to attach names and words to need and fear allow us to dwell endlessly on the story this creates… if we ‘want to’. Yep, more often than not, The Story Trumps Truth.

Because our innate story (the bio-hoodwink) is always pushing its need and fear based agenda, we always need to refresh, remind, review, re-energize whatever counter-story we’ve adopted in order to maintain balance. Even showing up at church occasionally helps. I imagine it depends on how well one’s counter-story works. The less it works, the more one is likely to turn to other ways: usually seeking pleasure and novelty. While this doesn’t counterbalance the bio-hoodwink (it actually supports it), it does offer a sense of escape and relief from the moment… and then comes the hangover or other long-term pain.

Some religions succeed better than others in offering a counter-story that fits the circumstances of the current era. For example, Africa was converted lock, stock, and barrel to Christianity. On the other hand, Christianity made little headway in places like China, Japan and India. Why? Their own spiritual story fit their circumstances better. Religions evolve along with cultural circumstances. In the end, however, our innate nature draws us to one of these spiritual stories and then leads us to interpret that story in ways that resonate well with what we personally need to hear.

Personally, the Taoist story is the only one that works for me now. Earlier Bhagavad Gita spoke more to me (and as a child, even the idea of a personal God did). Buddha’s Truths are less story and more scientific observation, as I see it. Those four truths, at least, are an efficient description of core aspects of human nature. When I think of it, much of the Taoist worldview parallels this description, but more broadly as it encompassing nature as a whole. (Overall, the Taoist worldview happens to be exceptionally compatible with Buddha’s view, which accounts for the Zen fusion—Buddha + Tao = Chan )

Suggested Revision:

The way normally does nothing, yet there is nothing not done.
If kings and noblemen will abide by this,
Everything will self transform.
Transform, yet desire rises;
Press it down using nameless simplicity.
Of nameless simplicity, man also handles without desire.
No desire and still, all under heaven will settle themselves.\

To me, this is a round-about way to say that the world we see is a reflection of ourselves; perfection lies ‘in here’, in the eye of the beholder. If I’m right, does the round about way the Tao Te Ching puts it, hit home any more effectively than me saying that the world we see merely mirrors who we are? Not if cognitive understanding must needs have its beginnings in intuitive knowing. In other words, if you don’t ‘gut get it’, nothing said will really hit home. In fact, more words can even get in the way. Of course, this is entirely antithetical to our belief that teaching conveys understanding. Yet, it agrees with my experience.

Years ago I read about ‘projection’, a narrower psychiatry version of my view that the world we think we see is simply a reflection of our senses and emotions (needs and fears). Although, I never really ‘gut got it’ back then. Sure, I understood the words, but didn’t really feel the reality until years later. Believing the illusion of my senses and emotion, I long failed to notice the dead obvious fact that my biology had me seeing reality as something ‘out there’. It is difficult to this day to discern, moment to moment, that what appears to be ‘out there’ is actually ‘in here’. Biology makes seeing the world with such impartiality (a ‘taoist’ point of view) understandably very difficult. Nature’s hoodwink (biology) continuously boggles my mind.

How is it that ‘The way normally does nothing, yet there is nothing not done’? The more I live the immediacy of each moment, the less paradoxical this view. In fact, when I am without desire and still everything gets done all the more. Actually, everything not only gets done, it gets done more efficiently and effortlessly. It turns out that any effort I feel, especially wasted effort, is a result of my desire for an ideal outcome. When I have little thought of self and as few desires as possible, the outcome actually becomes the ideal! Instead of my ideals pushing for particular outcomes, contentment helps me look upon any outcome as ideal.

Alas, need and fear (the origin of desire) traps the human mind in an illusionary world of ideals where we battle demon after evil demon. Yet what are those demons? They are only that which threatens those ideals we cherish. Talk about shooting one’s self in the foot! In a way, this parallels government (and personal) finances. Money comes in through taxes and wages. Money goes out through expenditures. Limiting expenditures correlates to contentment and ‘less is more’, until…

Have you noticed how both the government and the people find limiting expenses extremely difficult? Some want to raise taxes, work more, or win the lottery to support more expenditures. Others want to lower taxes or work less, but never get around to limiting expenditures if they can help it. Both groups only differ in name and ideology. Neither desires not to be full. Although, this is natural. After all, we are only animals. So much so that the sole meaningful difference I see between us and other animals is our hypocrisy. This feels ironic and pitiful, though I’m not sure why. Perhaps this arises from the origin of the ideals — the nagging feelings of what could be.